Cycle A - Year II:  

1 January 2020: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Numbers 6:22-27

Second Reading:   Galatians 4:4-7

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 2:16-21

"A New Journey with Mary, Mother of God!

 A new journey begins, as we greet each other "A Happy and Blessed New Year 2020!"

New Year is a time to celebrate anew the gift of life, as it fills our heart with new hope, inspiring us to reach out to new opportunities and face new challenges.

Our Holy Mother Church opens the new calendar year by proclaiming Mary as the Mother of God.  It was in June 431 that the Council of Ephesus affirmed that indeed Mary can rightfully be called "Mother of God".

Let us reflect and understand more this particular title of Mary as Mother of God.

Since Mary is the mother of Jesus, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God.  This fact is affirmed by logical syllogism: "If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God."

However, it is important to clarify that "although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the source of her Son's divinity, for she is neither.  Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine person -- Jesus Christ, God in the flesh-- and in the sense that she contributed the generic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ."  

As Mother of God, we honor Mary for her courage, faith, devotion, and humility.   Like all other mothers, Mary must have felt afraid at certain moments in her maternal role, like when Jesus was lost and found, in the temple after three days, and also during the agony and death of the grown-up Jesus on the cross.  But Mary's complete trust in God made her accept the role of a mother to God the Son.

The Gospel narrative for this day is from St. Luke about the poor shepherds who were the first witnesses of the birth of the Messiah.  They went in haste to Bethlehem after receiving the Good News from the angel about Jesus' birth.  There they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant Jesus lying in a manger, just as what the angel told them.  "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." (Lk 2:19)

In Mary we find a perfect model of being a Christian and disciple of Jesus.  She was the joy-filled mother of the new born Jesus; she was the mother of sorrow cradling her lifeless Son in the "Pieta"; and she was the Queen-Mother standing at the right hand of the glorified Lord, which we proclaim in the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary.

As we begin a new life's journey in the year 2020, let us pray to Mary, Mother of God and our mother too:  "O Blessed Virgin, pray to God for us always, that He may pardon and give us grace; pray to God for us always, that He may grant us peace in this life; pray to God for us always, that He may reward us with Paradise at when our worldly journey is completed. Amen."

The Church also celebrates this Sunday World Day of Prayer and Peace.  May Jesus, the King of peace, bless our country and all humanity with the gift of His peace.

I wish you A Happy and Blessed New Year 2020!  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!